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Cigarette butts biggest scourge along Canada's shorelines

GREG JOYCE

The Canadian Press

Latest comment posted at 7:37 AM EST 20/08/08

But official says few Canadians seem to recognize butts are trash ...Read the full article

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  1. mynalee johnstone from saltspring island, Canada writes: Butts.... everywhere. Not just beaches. In Victoria's Inner Harbour, they even butt out in the planters with the flowers. A disgusting habit. On the ferries, butts are tossed overboard. Talk about mindfulness and consciousness, hey? Why do we allow tobacco to be produced and sold?
    We know it is highly addictive.We know it is detrimental to our health and environment.
  2. JACK V from Canada writes: We got OIL spills GAS spills from are boats and feet washing up shore , and what do these people worry about cigarette butts, and they say they pick-up 90 tonne of garbage What's at the bottom that doesn't wash -up shore worries me, and how much TOXIC waste gets dumped in our lakes that we don't no about,and i thouht smoking was on the decline unless all smokers go boating or to the beach,
  3. jacqueline prajza from Toronto, writes: Ever since smoking was banned inside, where smokers used ashtrays and butts were disposed of correctly, the outside world has become every smokers new ashtray. We are inundated, everywhere with cigarette butts, and it's disgusting and offensive. Smokers, please understand that now you have a new responsibility to dispose of your garbage sensitively. City officials please, provide outside receptacles so this pollution can be controlled. Grow up people.
  4. Sandra T from Stroud, Canada writes: Well said Jacqueline Prajza...smokers need to learn that their bad habits affect more than just their own health. Thus, we have smoking bans everywhere. Yet you still want to be 'respected', because it's your 'right' to smoke.

    Great....expect - STOP leaving your stupid butts everywhere!! Innocent animals shouldn't have to die because of your carelessness.
  5. Blasphemous Apostate from Cahones, Mexico writes: Criminalize tobacco NOW and save our country BILLIONS in healthcare dollars and social costs....not to mention the positive effects on the environment.
  6. Steph C from Canada writes: Wow! Cigarette butts? Really, is that all? And worse than plastic bags? Hey, not bad. That's easier to clean up.

    I wonder if the filters absorb some of the pollution in the water while they're in there.
  7. Steven Koning from Bloomfield, ON, Canada writes: These are not the kind of butts we want to see on Canadian beaches.
  8. Kevin Desmoulin from Canada writes: Just pick up your butts you people, Why does not this has to be encouraged, the smoking bans are nothing new and being clean is good.

    I find it rather ungly too, butts are over place because people can put them in the dust bin.

    Perhaps a charge for littering.
  9. Brian R from Halifax, Canada writes: Sad that people are so inconsiderate. I agree butts are a problem but it is a bigger overall problem. I watch teens and some adults walk out of McDonalds and unwrap there cheeseburger and throw the wrapper on the ground, toss there Tim's cup out the window of the car. You know where you see the most butts? next time you are on an off ramp with a traffic light or even an intersection take a look at the curb, the lazy buggers take a moment to roll down their car window when not moving to dispose of the butt....
    Ignorant b@#t@rds.
  10. walker sailor from Ottawa, Canada writes: Wow, I can't believe I read this.

    Cigarette butts on shorelines are like this article in the Globe and Mail.
  11. G M from Canada writes: The littering of cigarette butts is the only reasonable complaint I have about smokers. Walk down a city block and just try to count the number of cigarette butts; they are everywhere and you will lose count.

    I have only ever known of two smokers who were conscientious when it came to disposing of their cigarette butts. Though I don't agree with it, I respect the choice smokers to smoke. They have no right to litter.
  12. R J from Montreal, Canada writes: Cigarette butts are only the beginning - If people feel that it's okay to throw cigarette butts on the ground, what's to stop them from throwing anything on the ground?

    What some of us may not be aware of is that most people see the 'outdoors' as a huge garbage bin. They have no other use for the environment except as a receptacle for their trash...

    Eat your butts.....
  13. JACK V from Canada writes: EVERY ONE LITTERS NOT JUST SMOKERS COME ON PEOPLE EVERY MUST HAVE A CLOSED MINED IF THEY ONLY SEE BUTTS LAYING AROUND.
  14. Simon Templar from Vancouver, Canada writes: Hmmm...was this such a problem when private bar and restaurant owners were able to run their businesses without government interference? I may be wrong, but I seem to remember when smokers were allowed to smoke inside, there used to be ashtrays on tables, etc. and the world seemed like a cleaner place. Now, there's piles of butts on sidewalks, probably washing into storm sewers, and being carried out to sea to land on a beach.

    I know this is a childish attitude, but if I were a smoker (I do like the odd cigar), I'd probably be an inconsiderate a$$ too and assume that the city would send street cleaners out to clean up my mess, considering it was the city/province who was responsible for me smoking outside in the first place. Childish or not, inconsiderate or not, I hope the 'death-to-smokers' mob didn't think that there would be no pushback or belligerence from the 1 in 5 people who they are targetting. We don't like in an authoritarian state yet...and guess what, not everyone lives in the same happy, shiny, and pink world that some of you seem to live in. We have garbage in Vancouver exponentially worse than cigarette butts on our streets. Grow up, some say? Get some priorities, I say.
  15. Dan Shortt from Toronto, Canada writes: Frankly, I don't like to see cigarette butts lying around either, especially when they are wet and soggy.

    But I do suspect that this sweet little article is actually a press-release from the anti-smoking and anti-cigarette lobby groups.
  16. More or Less from Canada writes: The building I work in has a giant cigarette butt disposal unit--it's actually a really cool looking receptacle and some of the smokers who hang around outside the doors of the building getting their fix actually use it. Judging by the number of butts on the ground, in the flower planters, tossed on the grass, it's obviously just too much trouble for smokers to drop their cigarette in the enormous ashtray which is located right beside the door.

    Smokers say they have every right to their habit--go ahead, kill yourself slowly, I'll still look sad when you tell me you have throat cancer; but do you have the right to make the world your ashtray? Do you believe it's also okay to make the world your trash can? There's enough crap gets dumped in the environment by accident without people deliberately doing it.
  17. Quebecer in NOTL from Canada writes: Simon

    The air must be clear in BC today...a clear-headed comment from the Left Coast. Hopefully you are in a new vanguard from there.
  18. Sandra T from Stroud, Canada writes: No, of course I don't 'just' see butts laying around. And, NO...cities doesn't have the kinds of budgets to hire people to clean up all the garbage left by polluters!

    I have been out there as a community VOLUNTEER with the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up as well as 'Adopt a Highway'. Cigarette butts are just the tip of the iceburg. I have seen what people throw out their car windows and are too lazy and stupid to dispose of in a responsible way. i.e. diapers, alcohol bottles, food wrappers, cans, cigarette butts etc......

    Do I WANT to clean up this crap? NO! If more people took responsibility....we wouldn't need to have these programs.

    By the way JACK V....no, not everyone litters. I don't. Do you?
  19. El Cid from Canada writes: More or Less, that's just stupid. I smoke and if there's a ashtray-like receptacle nearby, I always use them. Some of the smokers in your building need a lesson in manners. Same goes for people tossing gum everywhere on the street. At least cigarette butts don't stick to your shoes - not always anyway..:)
  20. grover station from Hamilton, Canada writes: Make biodegradable cigarette butts.
  21. Rob Jones from Canada writes: I drive a great deal and during the warmer weather I have seen hundreds (if not thousands) of smokers tapping their ashes out the windows of their cars followed by throwing the lit butts out. I have even had a few butts land in my car. The truth is smokers simply do not want the smelly disgusting ashes and butts in their cars (in the past I saw people dumping their ashtrays in parking lots all the time but now they simple tap and throw out the window). I know almost nobody who smokes who has a problem with this while most most non-smokers find this highly offensive. The only solution I see (because smokers have a twisted reality of what is acceptable behavior) is to follow the lead of countries like Singapore and have very heavy fines or jail time as penalties and cameras to catch people in the act.
  22. Betty Davis from Toronto, Canada writes: What about the coffee cups, chip bags, used kleenex, empty water bottles, etc....I'm a member of a club which voluntarily maintains a flower bed in a park. There are two garbage cans within 20 feet of that flower bed but people are too lazy to walk that far. Instead we have monthly clean-ups to pick up other people's trash. Smokers are no worse than any of the other lazy people who can't be bothered disposing of their waste in a bin. More or less - I see the same thing every day outside the building where I work. Rather than use the bins many smokers flick their buts out onto the roadway.
  23. Quebecer in NOTL from Canada writes: Yeah Rob...do you hear the 'jack boots' marching in he background. Fines? What are you smoking?
  24. On Edge from Ottawa, Canada writes: Tossing the butts on the ground is, in a sense, an act of rebellion against the actually quite shocking fact that smoking anywhere indoors is strictly prohibited. Maybe those soggy butts in the gutter are the price you pay for abuse?
  25. Alpha Sigma from Canada writes: It's infuriating. I cannot understand the ignorance of people who smoke at the beach, and just toss their cigarette butt into the sand. You're trying to peacefully enjoy nature's beauty at a beach and you wade through cigarette butts that ignorant pigs have just tossed aside.

    Wake up people and use your head. Then again these types of people probably just don't care.
  26. S Rankin from Canada writes: I regularly clean a two mile section of beach on Lake Erie in Southern Ontario. The biggest problem I see are latex and plastic party balloons (the helium filled kind). These wash up on shore and the numbers are quite staggering. Most of them originate from Cleveland and Detroit. Many of these balloons have long ribbons attached. I have found dead marine life entangled in these ribbons .
  27. Pam W from Calgary, Canada writes: I agree Simon. And the real kicker is, if a smoker were to walk up to the odd ashtray outside of a city building, they are actually breaking the law because they are within 5 metres of the doorway!
  28. Dick Hurts from Canada writes:

    Another reason to dislike smokers.

    We should pass a law that states you can only smoke in Iraq.

    .
  29. Red and white from Canada writes: If there is a tax on butts, It will cause people to put out less butts. Just like more tax will cause less carbon emmisions. We could call it the BUTT SHIFT. A person could run for public office with such a great idea. So shift your butt over to the red & white party.
  30. Jack Robertson from Toronto, Canada writes: Smokers already know that they are playing Russian Roulette with their health when they light up. One possible solution to the cigarette butt problem might be to phase out filter-tip cigarettes. During the roll-your-own era, some smokers bought cigarette holders with built-in filters. They can do it again or they can take their tar and nicotine straight. The sight of cigarette butts polluting the environment is harmful and offensive but so is the dictatorial 'ban everything' mentality of today's jackbooted Greenshirts.
  31. Michael Minuck from Toronto, Canada writes: During the winter thaw in Toronto this past Spring, it was also noted that buried beneath snowbanks was all kinds of garbage. There were cups, bags and an unbelievable amount of cigarette butts. This 'issue' was also noted in newspaper publications on Montreal and other cities. I agree with Betty Davis above in that smokers are no worse than any other lazer people who cannot ensure that their refuse makes its way to the garbage or ashtray. However, it seems to me that smokers have no shame about blatantly litering on our city streets, in our lakes and oceans and anywhere that is not their property. Throwing butts on the ground is littering just the same as tossing a chip bag or candy bar wrapper yet we chastize those who drop 'garbage' on the ground but not those who throw butts. Can't smokers extinguish there cigarette and then put in the garbage? What about putting it back into their cigarette pack until they can dispose of properly. I mean people this is not rocket science just people and citizens doing the right thing.
  32. Simon Templar from Vancouver, Canada writes: Good morning Quebecer in NOTL! Yes, the air has seemed a bit clearer of late...but I've read that I'm probably inhaling dangerous levels of second-hand smoke every time I leave the house...lol! How many years do I have left?! Ha ha.

    Seriously though, I tend to agree with Dan Shortt from Toronto that this is just another bit of questionable reporting done at the behest of the anti-tobacco lobby to keep cigarettes in the forefront as the scourge-of-the-day. This is really a non-story and it's so predictable that we'll see an on-line battle between the rebellious and those who wish to control them for most of the day.
  33. Jenn D from Canada writes: Don't tax the butts, but a 25 cent deposit on them. It's only $2.50 per pack. Considering what people already pay for their cigarettes, they won't even notice, but enterprising people will pick them up and be able to buy booze with the proceeds. It's a win-win situation.
  34. Rob Jones from Toronto, Canada writes: I am sorry to disagree but smokers are way worse than other people who litter. Their addiction to nicotine distorts reality. I personally know people who still try and smoke in the lavatories of aircraft because they cannot make it through a long flight without a fix. The fact that people died from fires caused by this doesn't phase them. They justify their need and say the risk is minimal. I have watched people stand outside in -30 C weather to get a fix. I have seen people chain smoke in their cars with children in the back seat and if anyone makes a comment they get offended. Employees of the propane company that blew up in TO were caught smoking on the site. The reality is getting a fix comes WAY before worrying about where the spent butt ends up and results clearly show this. Asking addicted people to be respectful of the environment has little chance of success when they often don't care about their own health orthe safety of others.
  35. Beth Johnston from Dundas PE, Canada writes: I too am amazed by the folks who would not throw a chocolate bar wrapper on the ground who would toss a cigarette butt or a half cigarette (you cant take them inside anymore) anywhere they feel like it. I recall from time to time seeing piles of butts in parking lots - someone dumps their whole car ashtray on the pavement while they are parked at the mall. I guess its too full too wait till you get home. I agree there are bigger problems in the world but the average smoker cant do anything about toxic waste and feet washing up on shore but they CAN do something about their butts - just move their personal butt a few more feet and put the butt in the garbage, not the decorative flower planter either. If you choose to smoke tht is your decision but why do YOU have to litter. 25 years ago I worked for a downtown church that had 2 enormous garbage cans outfront. Every morning staff had to clean the litter off of the sidewalk because the teens who hung out there were too busy, too careless and uncaring to use the garbage cans. Come on ADULTS, GROW UP and dont litter. Its common sense.
  36. Simon Templar from Vancouver, Canada writes: Some more questionable headlines to comment/fight about that the anti-tobacco lobby can take heart in:

    Russia disputes Georgian claims of houseburning; blames cigarettes left burning

    American gymnast cheated of gold by judge with ties to big tobacco

    Poor Canadian performance at Olympics attributed to high levels of second-hand smoke.

    New study shows smokers at higher risk to develop dandruff

    Sub-prime crisis in U.S. triggered by smokers paying for cigarettes, and not their mortgages.

    Second hand smoke number one cause of global warming

    I'm sure I can think of a few more useless headlines...but I'm sure some reporter somewhere will beat me to it.
  37. Robert Waddell from Toronto, Canada writes: Blasphemous Apostate from Cahones, Mexico writes: Criminalize tobacco NOW and save our country BILLIONS in healthcare dollars and social costs....not to mention the positive effects on the environment.

    ..// Sorry Blasphemous, the country would lose BILLIONS in healthcare dollar taxes that smokers pay. Statisically, smokers are less of a drain on health care than obese people.

    Like many have said, smokers are no worse than other litterers. In fact, a smoker would likely have to throw every cigarette butt from a pack on the street to equal one plastic water bottle. IMO it's just because one sees each individual butt that makes it appear to be a bigger problem than other littering.

    Cities that elected to ban smoking in bars and such and force all smokers out into the streets should've made provisions like providing ashtrays.

    Like it or not, cigarettes are a legal product and smokers deserve to be treated better. I wonder when we'll see the lawsuit against the cities for turning people who buy a legal product into second class citizens.
  38. Edrico Alberto from Edmonton, Canada writes: Smokers seem to think they have papal dispensation to litter, and that even applies to non catholics. Everywhere you see cigarette packages, foils, and butts. Smokers can take their butts and put them in ash trays, in their pockets, in their pant cuffs, in their shoes, in their purses, they can eat them, they can even stick them in their ears, but don't throw them out on the ground because that is littering.
  39. Simon Templar from Vancouver, Canada writes: What's worse for you - eating a Big Mac...or eating asbestos? Well, neither of them are good for you...and I wouldn't condone eating either...but I think we know the answer to the question. Same goes with butts...the article mentioned that butts do break down in 10-15 years...plastic bottles on the other hand DON'T break down. Not that either form of littering is right...but perspective, people! Perspective.
  40. Pam W from Calgary, Canada writes: More tax?!?! Right, cause the $8 in taxes per pack paid now isn't nearly enough.

    (I think I sprained my eyes from rolling them)
  41. no BS from Canada writes: I volunteer with a seniors group who pick up litter and far and away the hardest is the cig butts and especially around the high schools.

    The damn things are hard to pick up and once we bend over to get them it is hard to get back up. Oh my aching back and the grabbers don't work well on them.

    We have all of these classes on the environment but the worst polluters for litter are the kids and the fast good containers.

    Almost seems that there are more and more kids smoking and mostly young girls.
  42. Earl G from Canada writes: Our geocaching club has adopted at stretch of highway I can assure you after 3 years of picking up other people's trash that cigarette butts are far and away the most common litter. Why is it smokers dont't think they are littering?
  43. Simon Templar from Vancouver, Canada writes: no BS, if more and more kids are smoking, mainly young girls...I say we need a government with the courage to ban kids, especially young girls...as they are clearly part of the problem...and not the solution!!!

    Sorry...I know I poked fun at your comment, but I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, up way too early, and now am acting like a giddy child. Better sign off until I get a nap in..:)
  44. Gardiner Westbound from Canada writes:
    Though only 20-percent of people smoke I'm always amazed by the number of cigarette butts around building entrances notwithstanding frequent sweeping by staff.
  45. al goguen from Victoria, B.C., Canada writes: Maybe if the governments of Canada would double the price of tobacco moght help, but I doubt. Education first in school. What do you see on our streets. Children smoking. They are not aware of the danger and think it's cool to light a cigarette. What do we do with second hand smoke, not much. Let's start today.
  46. aloysuis paczjoskteyochuk from Canada writes: To begin with, the useless filter is the problem. Why not ban filtered cigarettes?
  47. Pam W from Calgary, Canada writes: All of this just angers me to no end. Yes it is a habit, HOWEVER it is also a serious addiction worse than heroin.

    Smokers are treated like second class citizens while we pay for needles & injection sites for drug abusers?!?! But, do smokers get financial help for any drug or treatments to help us quit? The 800 number the government provides is a joke, so don't even suggest that.

    Amazing.........a strung out drug addict using Insite a few times a day with no plans of rehab gets more support.
  48. J Smart from Canada writes: Carry an empty plastic film canister around in your pocket or purse and put the extinguished butts in it. When you get home, dump it in the garbage can. Problem solved.
  49. west slope from Canada writes: ---
    Yes, the frequency with which cigarette smokers toss their butts in public places is rather amazing.

    But if you have so little self respect to entertain an addiction to the most dangerous, deadliest, anti-social recreational drug in popular use, why would or should you care about others?
  50. M P from Canada writes: This is what happens when you start removing ashtrays in some misguided effort to eliminate smoking.
  51. karl mallette from Victoria, B.C., Canada writes: I would be interested to know what toxins are contained in those cigarette butts. I have long been concerned about urban centres where the butts pile up along the gutters, to be washed away into the storm drains and eventually finding their way into our lakes and oceans. During those 'breakdown' years, are we causing the permanent poisoning of our drinking water. Do these 'cancer causing agents' get filtered out in the water treatment plants?
    And what about our wells? Do the toxins leach into our ground water and poison our wells? If people insist upon smoking, they should be required to dispose of the waste in much the same way we are obliged to dispose of our old paint, old medicines, old photographic developing liquids. If we are too 'attached' to the taxes brought to the government by this deadly habit, therefore making it impossible to ban the habit altogether, let's make it a serious offence to dispose of the butts in any other than a sanitary way. We finally have people picking up after their dogs, let's make picking up your butts even more important. Make it illegal to 'flick' that waste into the environment. Make the smoker responsible for his/her own 'waste', be it dog dirt or butt.
  52. Rollo T from Belgium writes: west slope from Canada writes: ---
    Yes, the frequency with which cigarette smokers toss their butts in public places is rather amazing.
    ---------------------------------------------

    Really. You almost never see a pot smoker toss away a roach.
  53. El Cid from Canada writes: J M from Realityville, Canada writes: Smokers should be treated as second class citizens. I will go out of my way to make things unpleasant for smokers that I run in to. I think they should all be shot.

    mark berry from Paris, writes: If people are stupid enough to smoke, what makes you think they'd be smart enough to use ashtrays??
    -----------------------------------------------------------------

    Wow, a couple more winners from the uber-intelligent, high society non-smoking crowd. You guys rock!! LOL. Bet you're excited that school will back in soon, eh?
  54. Joe Canadian from Canada writes: ONLY JERKS LITTER.

    NUFF SAID.

    THE WORLD IS NOT AN ASH TRAY.
  55. Brent Wilkins from Canada writes: What we need is more public ashtrays. If they are there people will use them.
  56. Susan Rogan from Canada writes: 20 cigarettes x 365 days = 7,300 butts per smoker per year.

    I evicted a renter on day two due to the fact that I found 10 cigarette butts on the ground around the front porch. That was within 2 days! A total pig and that's all I needed to know.
  57. no BS from Canada writes: Simon I think you have something there. let's look at that issue.

    - girls are great consumers and therefore use a significant amount of the worlds resources.
    - girls dress provocatively and this incites the young guys into doing stupid things like trying to impress them by driving too fast, acting out macho, etc.
    - girls have babies which contribute to the over population in the world.
    -The babies that the girls have are an increased drain on the health care system and consume costly food and water.
    -the over population in the world uses more of the worlds resources.
    - as boys try to protect their girls it leads to nationalism and territorialism and they lead to wars.
    - girls are smoking more and more and are even more of a drain on the health care system.
    - more and more girls are working thus taking jobs from men.
    .

    Simon I think you have just hit on something and perhaps you should be tired more often, it seems to stimulate your creativity.
  58. Mani Pulated from Canada writes: Ban the filter! It doesn't decompose, but tobbaco and paper do. The only thing the filter does, is that it forces the smoker to inhale deeper.
  59. no BS from Canada writes: What we really need to do is ban (that is a Canadian word meaning get more Gov. involvment) filters on cigs and make the tobacco stronger.

    This would have the effect of:
    - making some of the smokers sick and perhaps think of quiting.
    - kill the rest faster reducing the costs on the health care system
    - creating smoking parlours for like minded people.
    - providing free quit smoking clinics in malls etc. as part of the health care system.
    - have some of the Hollywood stars do commercials on anti smoking.
  60. Susan Rogan from Canada writes: I also followed a woman home after watching her toss a lit cigarettte out her window on the Alaska Highway during a extreme risk for fire. I went right up her driveway, got out of my car and asked gave her a blast. She looked shocked and apologized. I was pretty nervous so probably over did it, but I made my point. I said, if it's too filthy and distasteful for you to put that cigarette butt in your own ashtray, what makes you think somebody else wants to pick up your filthy cigarette butt? Also how calous are you, throwing it out the window and creating a real risk of starting a major forest fire? Your selfishness is astounding!

    I truly believe that this particular woman will think twice before tossing a butt out the window again.

    Be more aggressive about saying no to this behaviour. It affects us all.
  61. can I vote again from around-Kingston, Canada writes: M P from Canada writes: This is what happens when you start removing ashtrays in some misguided effort to eliminate smoking.

    exactly!
  62. Gogh Forit from Canada writes: Mynalee johnstone from Saltspring Island asks 'Why do we allow tobacco to be produced and sold?' Well Mynalee, there's two reasons really. One, it is a legal product that the government, if it banned it outright, would have a very difficult time trying to stem the flow of illegally produced smokes. Two, At least $20 billion a year in taxes from the legal sale of tobacco products. So, until a viable alternative can be found for the control of illegal tobacco and the replacement of that twenty plus billion in taxes annually that federal and provincial governments get from tobacco products, it's unlikely that a quick remedy can be found. However, are there butt cans for the disposal of this legal product? There has been those who thought that if they didn't provide a receptacle where a cigarette (legal product) can be disposed of safely, then smokers wouldn't use those spaces. Guess that was wrong thinking. I guess Vancouver can attempt to ban the smoking of tobacco products but that will infringe on some people's charter rights and since the majority of Canadian smokers already fall into a visible minority recognized under the constitution, there may be in the future a petition before the courts to protect those citizens' rights to liberty and security of the person. Might happen. Most likely won't. That visible minority that makes up the majority of smokers in Canada. Yep, you guessed it. It's women.
  63. David Gibson from Hamilton, Canada writes: Smokers care about garbage like they care about other people's right to breath oxygen. Junkies with charcoal.
  64. Jesu Pifco from Canada writes: Smokers up against the wall! The anti-smoking lobby under the bed! More like butt-heads littering cyberspace, from my bleary perspective. I just got up (it's morning on the leftcoast beach) and didn't get enough sleep last night either. Don't light up or light into... Just lighten up please.
  65. Rick Drysdale from Canada writes: I live on the water and I have never , ever seen a bird eat a cigarette but, filter or anything that looks like it.

    The idea is stupid. Show me the proof .

    I sit on the back of my boat and throw cat food at the gulls. Most wont touch it. Bread they eat. They actually look at what they eat they havent survived for millions of years by eating crap thats not food.
  66. Don't forget to bring a towel from Canada writes: WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
  67. M Clarke from Canada writes: Only a bloody ignoramus throws cigarette butts on the ground...
  68. Craig Anderl from Vancouver, Canada writes: Cigarette butts are by nature disgusting which, I believe, is why smokers toss them away as fast as possible. Most smokers have a compulsion/repulsion relationship with the instrument of nicotine delivery. I witnessed a friend light up again and again (while professing to want to quit) then angrily toss the butt to the sidewalk, stomping it into submission. I liken the 'butt' to waking up hung over with a stranger in your bed...you want to get away from the 'scene of the crime' as fast as possible.

    Change requires effective behavior modification and since we likely can not mandate compulsory therapy, then perhaps as others have mentioned get rid of the filters altogether, or at least legislate them to be made out of biodegradable materials instead of fiberglass (or whatever chem-concoction they are manufactured from).

    Sophisticated smokers should take a lead from the Quebecois treeplanters and fruitpickers and roll up your Drum cigarette filter free, or from the legions of pot smokers who also light up on beaches with hand rolled joints with little paper filters so they don't burn their fingers. These biodegrade rather quickly.

    Or maybe just charge a 'butt' deposit of 5 cents each cigarette, then like pop bottles those with a disposable income will toss them away, and those needing an income will collect them.
  69. west slope from Canada writes: Rollo T from Belgium writes:........

    Really. You almost never see a pot smoker toss away a roach.
    ----------------------------
    Yes, most save the roaches for later. LOL!

    However Some pot smokers do toss the roaches, perhaps for purposes of avoiding detection by law enforcement agencies, but at least the 'roach' biodegrades quickly.

    The best here on the west coast are recreational fishermen who consider themselves 'conservationists' but toss their cigarettes wherever they damn well feel like it.
  70. J. King from Toronto, Canada writes: NOT just the shorelines - cigarette butts are a disgusting blight on city streets, parks, sidewalks - smokers (not all I'm sure but a VAST majority) think nothing of tossing them (sometimes still lit, I know as it blew onto me burning me) without care or thought. I think there should be far more mandatory sand-type containers available on the streets if smoking outside is the last place where they can go to enjoy their habit.
  71. Doug Dewan from Canada writes: It's a shame that this habit spills over into the environment...I live in Alberta and have seen discarded cigarette butts on the hiking trails in the pristine mountains trails....I think people feel because it's so small it has little impact...but they need to realize they are one of a thousand people throwing their butt on the ground...eventually they are laying around everywhere.
  72. Dan Shortt from Toronto, Canada writes: And predictably, the self-righteous anti-smoking brigade have stepped up to bash cigarette smokes yet again. Wasn't that the whole purpose if running this article, anyway?

    Smokers are a 'scourge on society.' They are 'second-class citizens and should all be shoot'

    You people are sheep and you don't deserve the freedoms you have. Read some history on social attitudes toward Jews in Germany prior to WWII. You all might be surprised to see the parallels with your attitudes towards smokers, and shocked to see your faces reflected in the mirror of fascism.
  73. Rod Rigging from O-Kville, Canada writes: This reinforces my opinion that smoking conditions smokers to be indecriminate litterers. Just watch the behaviour of smokers and you will see thay they not only toss out the buts ...but...they toss the celophane wrappers, the cardboard cartons, and frequently the whole damned ashtray.

    It is sad testiment but we will have to legislate this nasty smoking behaviour just like we had to legislate not smoking in a restaurent or a hospital.
  74. Jimmy's Lunch from Canada writes: Jimmy thinks the ciggy ads from the early 50's were a riot. Jimmy will not associate with any smoker, even if it's a hot babe.

    Once upon a time, more doctors smoked Camels than any other cigarette. At least, that’s what the RJ Reynolds tobacco company claimed. From the 1920’s through the 1950’s, many cigarette manufacturers used images of medical professionals and their implied endorsements to help sell their products. Tobacco companies even advertised in the New England Medical Journal and other respected medical journals.
  75. Thomas D'Arcy McGee from Canada writes:
    My observations of the trash I see on the sidewalks, roads and ditches tell me that smokers and coffee drinkers are the worst litterbugs.

    With smoking banned in so many places, smokers are using the common areas to consume their carcinogens and seem to think it is pefectly acceptable to just leave them on the ground, an amazing feat of self-justification.
    I note, in particular that the bottoms of limited access hiway off ramps where there is a sttop light or stop sign seem to be particular favourites for smokers to empty their car ashtrays.
    At least those people use their car ashtrays. A significant number seem to think it is all right to just toss their still-burning cigarette butts out the window. Commuting on the 401 will subject your vehicle to a rain of burning butts from cars ahead of you, bouncing off your vehicle or, worse, lodging on it somewhere (like the back of a loaded pickup truck) and causing a fire. They also cause many roadside fires by landing on dry grass or brush.

  76. Master T from Burlington, Canada writes:
    I put a small rock garden in the strip of grass between mine and my neighbour's properties.

    Some smoker @holes think because rocks don't burn that this is a great place to flick their smoldering cigarrette butts.

    My 2 year old daughter, who likes to play with these colourful rocks and make piles with them, picked up a 'still lit' cigarette butt and burned herself (she still has a scar). We can no longer let her play there because there are always lit cigarette butts tossed there.

    You don't think that flicking a burning cigarette butt is a big deal? GFYS is all I can say. GFYS!
  77. Dan Shortt from Toronto, Canada writes: Indeed, Pamphleteer ...

    J M from Realityville, Canada writes: Smokers should be treated as second class citizens. I will go out of my way to make things unpleasant for smokers that I run in to. I think they should all be shot.'

    bob smith from Canada writes: ' ... cigarette users are one of the biggest scourges in our society. ... They are ignorant/discusting/stupid.'

    Pamphleteer . from Canada writes: 'Smokers are inconsiderate people who insist on imposing their disgusting and repugnant habit on everyone else. ... Society has every right to relegate them into dark holes where their second hand smoke biohazard can't affect sensible people.

    Well, you might not agree with me drawing parallels between today's attitudes towards smokers and fascist attitudes .... BUT THERE YOU HAVE IT. Maybe you feel upset because it strikes a nerve?

    After all, like you say, it's not like smokers are being persecuted or anything ...
  78. El Cid from Canada writes: Face it, if Canadian cities and towns installed butt-stops or other cigarette disposal devices on city streets, the anti-tobacco zealots would have something new to moan and whine about - that they 'empower' smokers and since they'd be within a sixteen year old's view, they'd encourage more young people to smoke...blah...blah. I agree that even with such devices, there would be smokers who'd continue to litter...just as other people toss gum wads, coffee cups, etc. all over the streets now. You say littering is a problem...agreed, I won't debate that. But if a solution that didn't involve shooting smokers dead were proposed, you'd just whine about that too. Since some of you don't appear to have any other worthy causes to support, try lobbying your local politicians into making the sale of tobacco illegal. Put your money where your mouths are. But...seeing the amount of tax revenue reaped in through tobacco taxes despite claims that smokers cost the economy so, so much money...good luck getting any of your local MPs or MLAs to do anything but nod in concern...and then pass some other useless anti-tobacco law to keep the sheep happy. Like banning smoking in cigar bars...or covering up the cigarette power walls in tobacco shops where no one under 19 can enter anyway. Then get Brad Pitt to do some sort of public service announcement...all the kids would listen to him...wait, he smokes too...
  79. G P from St. John's, Canada writes: Where can I purchase this antique sewing machine mentioned in the article?
  80. samuel t cogley attorney at law from toronto, Canada writes: Pamphleteer . from Canada, smokers are litterers. so are a lot of tim hortons drinkers, chip and chocolate bar eaters. the only reason you came out from under where ever it is that you normally reside is because you see a chance to bash smokers.

    what i find repugnant and disgusting is having to listen to and read the ravings of the self righteous.

    i carry a tape measure with me just ot irritate people like you. the measure is so that i am EXACTLY the required distance from entrances and restaurant and bar patios. i KNOW that it bugs the hell out of a lot of non smokers.

    when i am outside i throw the butts on the ground. when i am driving on the highway or street i throw them out the window.

    Society as you call it seems to love the billions in taxes we provide so YOU and society can just put up with a few annoyances. i see to it that i annoy as many non smokers as humanly possible every day.

    take the patios for instance. i stand away the required by law distance. however when i see the usual looks from non smokers i find the spot in the breeze or wind that will blow it directly to them.its just the little things like that, that makes a persons day.

    when a self righteous non smoker like you for example sees that there is NOTHING they can do, you should see the shade of red they turn.

    cheers and have a smokey day
  81. El Cid from Canada writes: Master T,

    Genuinely sorry to hear your story...obviously, your neighbours or whoever did that is a complete and utter jerk. But the same can be said for people who smash bottles and leave shards of broken glass on the sidewalk/beach...as an example. Your story just proves that whoever tossed the still burning cigarette butt there needs a lesson in manners...as would anyone who tosses one from a moving vehicle, etc.
  82. Jesu Pifco from Canada writes: For those of you born yesterday; cigarette butts (that's 2 Ts) have been littering the landscape long before smokers were forced out into the cold.
    Also, I think the old aphorism 'hate the sin and but (one T) not the sinner' might be invoked here. It's hard, for me at least, to demonise my sadly addicted friends and neighbours.
  83. Master T from Burlington, Canada writes: El Cid - I agree fully. And don't get me started on those dog walkers who don't stoop and scoop.

    My story focusses on those smokers who litter (I agree there are many who don't) because of my particular circumstance.

    Generally speaking the behaviour that leads to littering has nothing to do with smoking or walking a dog, but more so the general politeness and social consciousness of the person (the opposite of course being rude and self-absorbed).
  84. Henry Myers from Vancouver, Canada writes: Just make filter tips illegal. Cigarettes used to be just tobacco and paper. Real smokers don't need filter tips; wimp smokers will be encouraged to stop smoking; paper and tobacco will break down and bio-degrade.
  85. Paul Hume from Mississauga, Canada writes: Self righteous non smokers crack me up, especially on these boards. That said, when I go to the beach, I have an empty pack on me and put my butts in that. When I leave the beach I simply wade through the garbage toward the usually empty garbage can and toss the pack in there.

    Still waiting for the government to make ciggies illegal....
  86. Fungal Fred from Canada writes: I've seen lots of drivers, driving ahead of me, flick their butts out onto the road. I guess they don't want to get their ashtrays dirty. I'm sure on-duty police officers, driving their police cars will have experienced the same. But how many people have ever been charged with littering when they flick their butt out their car window?

    If the police won't enforce the law then smokers will continue to think it's quite okay to toss their butts onto the street.
  87. Sandra T from Stroud, Canada writes: Samuel t Cogley...you make absolutely NO SENSE. Why does a non-smoker have to be in your words, 'self-righteous'...it seems to me that you are the one who thinks it is your 'right' to throw your butts on the ground and out the window of your car....as you have boasted in doing so. You seem to delight in 'annoying' non-smokers.

    How many 2 year old children have you burned from your careless and thoughtless habit of tossing your butts? (as what happened to a poster's daughter above) Do you take 'delight' in annoying innocent children or animals who pick up your butts thinking it's food?

    I cannot believe the lengths people will go to 'justify' their disgusting habits...whether it's smoking OR just plain littering.
  88. Robert Waddell from Toronto, Canada writes: Susan Rogan from Canada writes: I evicted a renter on day two due to the fact that I found 10 cigarette butts on the ground around the front porch. That was within 2 days! A total pig and that's all I needed to know. ..// Wow, those are some pretty weak tenant laws in your area Susan. Methinks if your place was worth living in your tenant would've sued you. J M from Realityville, Canada writes: Smokers should be treated as second class citizens. I will go out of my way to make things unpleasant for smokers that I run in to. I think they should all be shot.' ..// Very well thought out there JM. I look forward to the day when your taxes pay for your health care rather than you being treated for your mental issues using smoker tax dollars. bob smith from Canada writes: ' ... cigarette users are one of the biggest scourges in our society. ... They are ignorant/discusting/stupid.' ..// at least we can spell Bob. Pamphleteer . from Canada writes: 'Smokers are inconsiderate people who insist on imposing their disgusting and repugnant habit on everyone else. ... Society has every right to relegate them into dark holes where their second hand smoke biohazard can't affect sensible people. ..// second hand smoke biohazard LMAO!!! Do you even know what a bio-hazard is? Incidentally, there is very little in the way of proof regarding second hand smoker exposure. Many airlines did studies over 20 years regarding the effects of second hand on the stewardesses, British Airways for one. The result? No measurable effect on flight attendent health. C'mon people. All smokers are aware they have a bad habit but all any of you holier than thou non-smokers want to do is further ostracize us. How about pushing the government for subsidizing stop smoking aids or something helpful to those with the addiction? I guess you'd rather fund safe injection sites right?
  89. Pamphleteer . from Canada writes: Dan Shortt from Toronto, Canada writes: Indeed, Pamphleteer ... J M from Realityville, Canada writes: Smokers should be treated as second class citizens. I will go out of my way to make things unpleasant for smokers that I run in to. I think they should all be shot.' bob smith from Canada writes: ' ... cigarette users are one of the biggest scourges in our society. ... They are ignorant/discusting/stupid.' Pamphleteer . from Canada writes: 'Smokers are inconsiderate people who insist on imposing their disgusting and repugnant habit on everyone else. ... Society has every right to relegate them into dark holes where their second hand smoke biohazard can't affect sensible people. Well, you might not agree with me drawing parallels between today's attitudes towards smokers and fascist attitudes .... BUT THERE YOU HAVE IT. Maybe you feel upset because it strikes a nerve? After all, like you say, it's not like smokers are being persecuted or anything ... -- While the otehr comments you quoted were a bit over the top, mine was not. You conveniently edited out the part where I stated that smokers are being pushed out of areas where their habit can cause damage because what they are doing constitutes a breach of public health safety. Smokers are not being persecuted. Nor are non-smokoing policies fascist. Do you even know what those words mean? The fact is your ability to threaten the health of the general public is being limited by the state. That does not constitute persecution. That constitutes good public health policy, which is predicated on solid science. Jews, on the other hand, were disenfrancised and hauled off to concentration camps because of their ethnicity -- policies that were predicated not on science but warped racial superiority theories. You're so ignornat to be comparing a public health issue to genuine persecution.
  90. Pamphleteer . from Canada writes: Dan Shortt: for greater clarity, my original response looks too squished together.

    --

    While the otehr comments you quoted were a bit over the top, mine was not. You conveniently edited out the part where I stated that smokers are being pushed out of areas where their habit can cause damage because what they are doing constitutes a breach of public health safety.

    Smokers are not being persecuted. Nor are non-smokoing policies fascist. Do you even know what those words mean? The fact is your ability to threaten the health of the general public is being limited by the state. That does not constitute persecution. That constitutes good public health policy, which is predicated on solid science. Jews, on the other hand, were disenfrancised and hauled off to concentration camps because of their ethnicity -- policies that were predicated not on science but warped racial superiority theories. You're so ignornat to be comparing a public health issue to genuine persecution.
  91. Iain Scott from Canada writes: GM From Canada writes 'Walk down a city block and just try to count the number of cigarette butts; they are everywhere and you will lose count.' Maybe tomorrow G&M will do an article about chewing gum. To bad TD Bank doesn't sponsor the cleanup of that filth from our streets.
  92. Tim W. from Vancouver, Canada writes: Simon Templar is apparently an